The woman whose math sent John Glenn to orbit says goodbye to a 'good man'

John Glenn, a former NASA astronaut who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, died Thursday at the age of 95, and almost immediately, people started sharing their memories and thoughts about the American hero.

One of those people was Katherine Johnson, the "human computer" who helped check and invent the math that sent Glenn into orbit and brought him back home during his first flight decades ago.

"A good man has left Earth for the last time. John Glenn's life will long be remembered for his time in space, his courage and his service to all Americans," Johnson said in a statement Friday.

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John Glenn through the years

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John Glenn through the years

UNDATED FILE PHOTO - Sen. John Glenn could get a chance to prove he still has "the right stuff" if NASA decides to let him fly aboard the space shuttle, nearly 36 years after his landmark first space flight. NASA said it planned a "major announcement" on Friday, and Glenn, a 76-year-old former astronaut, grinned broadly when asked about reports that he would make the space voyage but offered no hints on January 15. Glenn is shown in his spacesuit in NASA photo taken in 1961 or 1962.
SPACE GLENN

(Original Caption) Ca. 1961-Cape Canaveral, Florida-Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., is checked out in his pressure suit before entering the procedures trainer at the Manned Spacecraft Center at the Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Glenn, a Marine Lieutenant Colonel, was selected as the primary mission pilot for America's manned orbital flight scheduled for late 1961 or early 1962.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - February 20, 1962 - Astronaut John Glenn, Jr. photographed in space by an automatic sequence motion picture camera. Glenn was in a state of weightlessness traveling at 17,500 mph as this picture was taken.

(Original Caption) 3/9/1962-Washington, D.C.- Lt. Col. John Glenn flashes his now famous smile after he was presented two military insignia here today, for his spacetrip around the earth. Glenn received the Navy's 'astronaut's wings' (on his left breast pocket flap) and the Marine Corps' 'astronaut's insignia' (on his right chest).

GREAT EXLPORATIONS WITH JOHN GLENN -- 'The Trail of Stanley and Livingstone' -- Pictured: Col. John Glenn for a documentary through Tanzania to retrace the 1871 route taken on Henry Morton Stanley's search for David Livingstone's missionary -- Photo by: Herb Ball/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

During his campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination, American politician and former astronaut Senator John Glenn (right) accepts a United States Space Camp cap and t-shirt from a young man at the US Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama, January 11, 1984. (Photo Robert R. McElroy/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 1: John Glenn and wife, Annie, pose for a photograph September 1, 1986 in New York City. (Photo by Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images)

U.S. Sen. John H. Glenn Jr. (D.-Ohio), is assisted by suit experts Jean Alexander and Carlous Gillis prior to a training session at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The STS-95 crew members are getting prepared for a scheduled Oct. 29 launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

UNITED STATES - JULY 22: Sen. John Glenn talks about Alan Shepard at a news conference at the Capitol after learning of his fellow astronaut's death. Glenn was Shepard's backup on the first U.S. space flight and will fly on a shuttle mission this fall. (Photo by Harry Hamburg/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

UNITED STATES - JULY 27: Astronaut John Glenn during the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention 2004, in Boston, Ma.. (Photo By Chris Maddaloni/Roll Call/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Former astronaut John Glenn looks on at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on September 24, 2009 in New York City. The Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) looks to gather prominent individuals in politics, business, science, academics and religion to discuss global issues such as climate change and peace in the Middle East. The event, founded by former president Bill Clinton after he left office, is held the same week as the General Assembly at the United Nations as most world leaders are in New York. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

John Glenn, former Marine Corps pilot, astronaut and U.S. Senator, left, receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, May 29, 2012. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

CLEVELAND, OH - AUGUST 26: Astronaut and former Ohio Senator John Glenn throws out the first pitch prior to the game between the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees at Progressive Field on August 26, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Former Ohio Senator and NASA astronaut John Glenn and his wife Annie sit in the audience during the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting September 23, 2012 in New York. AFP PHOTO/STEPHEN CHERNIN (Photo credit should read STEPHEN CHERNIN/AFP/GettyImages)

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Johnson's life is the subject of the new movie Hidden Figures, which chronicles her work at NASA as well as the work of Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson — two other African-American "human computers" who left a mark on the space agency but have not been widely celebrated until now.

NASA credits Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) with "verifying the calculations made by early electronic computers of John Glenn's 1962 launch to orbit and the 1969 Apollo 11 trajectory to the moon."

Glen Powell, the actor who plays Glenn in Hidden Figures, also paid tribute to Glenn's life on Twitter.

Now THAT is how you live a life! Godspeed, John Glenn. A true gentleman who humbly touched the stars and made us believe in the impossible.

In Hidden Figures, Johnson — who faces horrible discrimination due to her status as an African-American woman working in a white male space in the 1960s — is key to NASA Langley's goal of putting Glenn into orbit after the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin up months before.

Hidden Figures will be released in theaters across the U.S. on Jan. 6, with limited release starting Christmas Day.